


Outside Looking In

by Aviss



Series: Outside looking in [1]
Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Established Relationship, F/M, POV Outsider
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-11
Updated: 2019-04-11
Packaged: 2020-01-11 22:28:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,245
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18433391
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aviss/pseuds/Aviss
Summary: The Court is much more dangerous to navigate than the battlefield, but maybe Brienne has learned a thing or two, much to Tyrion's surprise.





	Outside Looking In

**Author's Note:**

> Ok, so the most surprised person is me, such a long time without writing. These guys are obviously inspiring me.

Tyrion saw it for the first time during one of those never-ending evenings in court that sucked the joy of life but were necessary for the wellbeing of the kingdom, or so everyone tried to make him believe. It was the first anniversary of Daenerys and Jon Targaryen's reign, and the attendance of all the Lord Paramount had been mandatory. 

It was the only reason they had managed to get Jaime and Brienne away from Tarth, especially with Brienne in such a delicate condition.

Tyrion wandered around the gardens, the flowers blooming beautifully with the first hints of Spring, the snow already melted this far south. Back home, in Winterfell, the snow would still fall for a long time, well into Summer, but the darkness had receded and Northerners were used to the frigid temperatures; Sansa still made fun of him for his delicate constitution every time he sneezed. 

He looked for her in the mass of people, the chattering lords and ladies dressed in gaudy gowns and lurid tunics and breeches, trying to show off their power the only way left to them in the peaceful times. Sansa was nowhere to be seen, probably ensconced with the Queen somewhere gossiping like the girls they hadn't been allowed to be before. 

He could see his good-sister, though, not that it was possible to miss her. Brienne towered over all the women and most of the men, her pale blonde hair shining like a beacon under the sun. She wasn't wearing her usual breeches and tunic, mainly because she would have not fit in them. Brienne was so swollen with child it was a miracle she was still standing, her imposing stature and mannish shape made the more ridiculous with her new girth. She was radiant, though, clad on a beautiful blue dress cut right under her breasts and made of flowing material that moulded perfectly to the curve of her belly and made her look almost feminine, and it made her eyes shine like the sapphires her island was named for. It didn't make her pretty, but it had been a long time since she had cared about it, or so she said. 

He approached the group where she was, the expression on her face leaving no doubt that she wanted to be anywhere but there, but as the Lord and Lady of Casterly Rock and Tarth, and Wardens of the West and Stormlands, their attendance had been mandatory. Jaime wasn't around, probably suffering in his own way, his dislike of the court as acute as his wife's.

Brienne was surrounded by three women, all of them petite and beautiful, but not remarkable. Out of the three, he could only recognise Lady Garner, who had been betrothed to the Greenfield's heir, a great bore of a man at least twenty years her senior, and whom Tyrion had seen making eyes at his brother. For all the good it would do her; anyone who had seen them together knew Jaime only had eyes for one woman.

"I don't know how you do it, Lady Brienne," Lady Garner was saying, her tone the soft wondering one Tyrion knew came with a poisoned dagger behind. "I would not let Lord Jaime out of my sight if he was my husband." _And I looked like you_ , was left unsaid but could be clearly heard as if spoken aloud. 

Brienne didn't even twitch, just tilted her head to the side, considering. "He's somewhere around, probably with his brother or Ser Jorah."

"But how can you know that's where he is?" one of the other women said. "There are so many beautiful women in court, I would be very insecure."

Tyrion was going to join the conversation and intervene, save his good sister from the courtiers. She was the most accomplished swordsman in the realm but didn't do so well with words and the kind of mind games played in court. Or that had been the case when they left, apparently, all that time with Jaime had taught her one or two things if the glint in her eye was to be believed. 

"He's given me no reason to doubt him," she said with a slight shrug.

"I really hope you're right, Lady Brienne," Lady Garner insisted, her manner sympathetic but the look in her eyes envious and cruel. "Men like that have wandering eyes and hands, or there wouldn't be so many bastards in the realm, especially when their wives are in no condition to do their duty. It's unfair to us women, but it has always been like this. Men have needs."

Brienne smiled, and it was the razor sharp one Jaime used before eviscerating someone, it looked all the more frightening on her face. "Maybe it's different when you marry for love, Lady Garner. I hope you can all experience it with time in your marriages," Brienne responded, her tone still mild but her expression everything but. "I trust Lord Jaime one hundred percent because he loves me, and he proves it to me every single day. _And every single night_ , even in my condition, and it's not my duty. _He makes sure it's my pleasure_."

A shocked silence fell over the group, and Tyrion had to bite his cheek to keep from laughing. His timid good-sister had grown some claws. _Good_. 

"Oh, my good-brother is here," Brienne said into the silence, "good day to you all."

An instant later she was by his side. "I hate court." she waddled away from the group with him trying to keep pace with her and falling miserably behind.

"My dear Lady Brienne," he finally said, catching up to her when she stopped to sit on a bench, and laughing helplessly. "My brother has been a great influence on you."

She smiled at him. "These silly girls think to insult and humiliate me with crude insinuations; I once travelled weeks with your brother while we hated each other, and he's the worst when he wants to be."

Tyrion knew the story, at least the parts that didn't haunt them anymore, and knew she was harder than most people believed it. But it wasn't that what had allowed her to completely destroy the courtiers, it wasn't her thick skin and a lifetime of insults. It was his brother's love, her trust in Jaime's love and the unshakable certainty that she had his devotion just because Jaime had told her.

That was what most people in the court, with their arranged loveless marriages and their fakeness, could never understand. They would always envy them and attack them for it. 

He thought about his own wife, the most beautiful girl who had, at one point, swooned for the likes of Loras Tyrell and Joffrey. He thought of her smiles and how she had said, "I had a handsome husband once, he was a monster and I fed him to his own dogs." Tyrion knew that story, and it made him sick to know what she had suffered, even if it had turned her into the woman she was today. "I'm done with handsome; I want good, I want kind and intelligent and trustworthy. I want you." And he understood where Brienne's confidence was coming from. 

Suddenly he was very glad they were all in court; he had missed his brother and wanted to get to know his good-sister better. 

"Come, Brienne, let's go inside and talk, you and I have much to talk about."

...


End file.
